British Motor Museum Volunteers

Monday, 18 April 2016

Owing to a trip down under to New Zealand, it's been some
time since I wrote our last blog in early January. During that time a lot has
happened at the British Motor Museum.

The refurbished Museum, along with the new Collections
Centre, opened to the press on 12 February and then the general public the
following day. This generated a lot of interest, both locally and nationally
with good press and TV coverage. The reopening also coincided with school
half-term, which ensured a great initial turn out from the public.

Prior to the reopening the volunteers spent several days
helping the Museum's staff move all the stored vehicles into their appropriate
new locations, either within the existing refurbished Museum, or in the
Collections Centre.

As can be clearly
seen, some vehicles were far more easily moved than others

The Museum now contains around 80 vehicles, arranged in
themed areas, such as the Time Road, Prototypes, Sport cars etc., with educational
graphics and interactive displays. The
Collection Centre, which is a separate new building, contains the Museum's
reserve collection of cars on the first floor with the Jaguar Heritage
Collection on the ground floor. All can be viewed as part of the Museum's
general admission ticket.

Good game - trying to
arrange all the reserve collection in rough date order

Although the volunteers are still involved in many other
projects at the Museum, our main involvement is now acting as guides at the new
Collections Centre. Whilst the public is free to roam around the main Museum at
leisure, viewing of the Collection Centre must be supervised and controlled by
tour guides.

Volunteers love a bit of
polishing Our restoration project has a new home

As I write, the exact
arrangements for tours are still the subject of some discussion and feedback
analysis. The basic plan is still to have around four guided tours per day,
which should be booked if possible on arrival at the pay desk. However, on busy
school holiday periods for instance, we've already trialled a general
"open house" period, which seems to work well. So, please check at
the pay desk on arrival for Collection Centre tour details.